"If You Really Loved Me", Part 1 of 3, written April-May 2005, PG

[sid]

I'm posting this to LJ for the first time due to a remark made by janedavitt .

It's too big for a single post, so I'll do it in 3 chapters, as originally written.  I cleaned up some of the punctuation, but left the schmoop intact. *g*

There's Daniel under the influence and a startled Jack in this chapter.

  

IF YOU REALLY LOVED ME – Part One

 

“Daniel?”

 

“Yes, Jack?”

 

“Whatcha doin’?”

 

Pause. “I have no idea.”

 

“So, how ‘bout stopping then?”

 

Pause. “I don’t think so.” Jack took a slight step in Daniel’s direction, only to have Daniel level his weapon at Jack’s chest. Jack stood stock still.  “And I don’t think it would be a very good idea for you to try to stop me, either.”

 

Jack looked around at the bodies littering the floor of the control room. “Are you going to kill me, too?”

 

Daniel continued to tap on the computer keyboard with one hand, while keeping his weapon firmly pointed at his best friend. The blast doors to the Gate room on the level below were closing. Daniel glanced around the control room and told Jack, “Oh, they’re not dead.”

 

“You sure?” Jack asked. “Have you ever used that weapon before?”

 

Daniel blinked up at him, and frowned slightly. “I just know.”

 

“Like you know what to do, even though you don’t know what you’re doing?”

 

Daniel shrugged irritably. “Maybe you should just be quiet now, and let me do what I have to do.”

 

“You know I can’t do that, Daniel,” Jack said quietly. “I’m going to have to stop you. One way or another.”

 

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m protected by a force shield, Jack. So, not really much you can do, is there?” Daniel smiled at Jack, as if inviting him to share in the joke. Jack couldn’t quite see the humor. The Stargate came to life. Daniel was dialing out. “Chevron One encoded. I have always wanted to say that!”

 

“Daniel, you have to stop!” Jack shouted.

 

“Will you calm down? It’s an outgoing wormhole. Where’s the harm? Chevron Four encoded.”

 

The klaxon began to sound. Jack had known it was only a matter of time before the SFs monitoring the security camera video saw what was happening and responded. He himself had faintly heard shouts traveling up the staircase to the briefing room outside his office, and gone to investigate. 

 

“Nobody is getting in, Jack. I’ve extended the force shield to seal the entrances to this room.” Jack could see armed SFs trying to enter the room via both staircases and having no luck. The outgoing wormhole was established. “Damn! I missed saying Chevron Seven locked!” Daniel was tapping on the keyboard again. 

 

“You’re sending a signal,” Jack realized. “Daniel, you cannot do this! Listen to me!”

 

“I’m listening,” Daniel said. His hand continued to move over the keyboard and his weapon remained firmly fixed on Jack. The wormhole shut down.

 

“What did you do, Daniel?” Jack implored.

 

“I told you, I have no idea,” Daniel repeated. His full attention was on Jack now, since his task was completed.

 

“Okay,” Jack said slowly, “okay, but you could figure it out.”

 

“What do you mean?” Daniel frowned.

 

“I mean you’re a genius, and all that. Think about it. What just happened? What were you doing and what’s going to happen next?”

 

“Jack.” Daniel smiled at him indulgently. “Even if I could figure it out, why would I tell you?”

 

“Because we’re friends,” Jack said with clenched fists. “Because we share things.”

 

The ring of the Stargate began to rotate again. Unauthorized off world activation. The iris was open. It was an invasion. Or a bomb. Jack felt his heart in his throat.

 

Daniel chuckled. “I love it when you try to be subtle.”

 

“If you really loved me,” Jack said desperately, “you’d help me stop this.”

 

Daniel blinked slowly up at him, and then, as Jack watched in disbelief, he laid down his alien weapon on the console and collapsed into a boneless heap on the floor. The shimmering force shields disappeared. The seventh chevron was locking. Jack sprang to the console, waiting for the wormhole to establish. The instant it appeared he slammed his palm down, closing the iris.

 

The room was filling with SFs. Jack shouted for quiet. In the ensuing silence he listened with horror to the seemingly endless string of impacts on the iris. An invasion army. Sizable. It had been so close. He found himself shaking. He heard a quiet voice speaking into the telephone, calling for medical assistance. 

 

Daniel! 

 

He knelt on the floor beside his friend and felt frantically for a pulse. A lieutenant knelt beside him. “The others are all alive, General.” Jack closed his eyes, and nodded his head. Daniel was alive, too.

 

~~~~

 

Jack approached Daniel’s bed in the infirmary. Sam was sitting in a chair next to her teammate, holding his hand in a loose grip. “How’s he doing, Carter?” Jack asked.

 

Sam smiled up at him. “He was awake a little while ago.” Jack felt immediate regret that he hadn’t been able to be there. “He had some ice chips, and he asked if you were okay, and then he went back to sleep.”

 

Jack stared at his sleeping friend’s face. “He asked about me?”

 

“Yes, sir,” Sam replied. She stroked Daniel’s arm. “We don’t really know what he was thinking. I mean, he wasn’t terribly alert.”

 

“Right,” Jack said, tearing his eyes away from Daniel for a moment to look at her. “The doctors say that he’s going to be fine. I mean now that they got that chip out of his head.” He spoke like a man who craved reassurance.

 

 “Yes, sir,” Sam replied immediately. “The surgery was relatively minor and he’s recovering very well.”

 

“But they can’t really know that there won’t be any lasting effects, can they?” Jack worried.

 

“The microchip is being studied, sir.” Sam broke off as her eyes met the General’s. “No, they can’t really know at this point. They’ll know more when Daniel really wakes up and is able to be questioned.” Jack winced. “I know, that sounds awful.”

 

Jack walked past her, to the head of the bed. He ran his hand gently through Daniel’s hair and then laid it on Daniel’s shoulder as he looked down at Sam. “I’m sending SGs 2,10 and 14 and three Marine units through to P2Y-712. Maybe they can find something out.”

 

Sam nodded and stood up. “It makes sense that this happened there. Daniel was separated from Teal’c and me for a few hours, but there was no indication that anything was wrong. It wasn‘t like he was missing.”

 

“I know, Carter. Absolutely not your fault. We’ll get to the bottom of it. If it was them, they lost a whole lot of people today. I don’t think they’re going to be a threat anymore.” Jack transferred his gaze back to Daniel. “We just want whatever they can tell us about the effects of the device that was implanted in Daniel, and then they can go to hell.”

 

Sam looked at his worried face. “Take my chair, sir,” she said gently. “I’m going to go find something to eat. You can keep Daniel company for a while?”

 

Jack sank into the chair without looking at her. “Sure,” he said. He covered Daniel’s hand with his own, just as Sam had done. “Take your time.”

 

~~~~

 

Jack looked at his watch. Carter had been gone for over an hour now, and he couldn’t honestly justify remaining at Daniel’s bedside much longer. Some times being General sucked, and this was one of them. He began stacking the folders of work that he had had Walter bring him. At least he had accomplished a few things while sitting here, but he needed his desk, with his computer and his telephone. He pushed the bedside table away and scooted his chair closer to Daniel. Just a few more minutes….

 

Jack found himself staring into Daniel’s confused blue eyes. “Hey, Daniel,” he said in surprise. “You decide to wake up finally?”

 

“Jack?”

 

“Right here, buddy.”

 

“You’re all right?”

 

Jack took gentle hold of his friend’s hand and cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m fine. You will be, too.” Daniel’s hand clutched his anxiously. “Everybody’s fine, everything’s okay. Honest.”

 

“I was hurt?” Daniel asked, looking around the infirmary.

 

“Little surgery. You’re okay now,” Jack reassured him.

 

Daniel looked up at his friend. “Oh, no, what did I do?” He struggled to sit up and Jack pressed him back down on the bed. “I did something, didn’t I?” His eyes were begging Jack for answers.

 

“Everything is fine, Daniel. I promise.” Daniel grew more quiet. “You don’t remember anything?” Daniel shook his head, chewing on his bottom lip nervously. His hand was still clutching Jack’s tightly. Jack stroked Daniel’s hair soothingly. “Everything is taken care of; it’s all over.”

 

“You’re all right?” Daniel asked again.

 

Jack blinked a few times. “Yes,” he nodded, “I’m just fine. You already asked me that.”

 

Daniel’s eyes were searching his. “I can’t remember,” Daniel said.

 

“You mean you don’t remember asking me that?” Jack frowned.

 

“No, I mean I can’t remember what happened,” Daniel said.

 

“You already said that, too,” Jack said worriedly. He rose to his feet. “I’m going to find the doctor.”

 

“No, Jack, wait.” Daniel struggled to find the right words. “I mean I sort of remember something with you, but I don’t remember what. Something bad?”

 

“Oh.” Jack sat down again. “That. So you’re worried about me.” Daniel nodded. “Okay. Okay, look, you had a microchip of some kind in your head, and you went a little nutso. Chip’s out, you’re going to be fine, and no harm done. And you didn’t hurt me, so quit worrying about it.” He smiled down at Daniel. “All right?”

 

Daniel looked at him suspiciously. “I know there’s something you’re not telling me.”

 

Jack surveyed Daniel’s narrow-eyed glare happily. That’s my Daniel. “Oh, you mean the part where you held a weapon on me?” Daniel’s eyes widened dramatically. “But you didn’t use it, and you wouldn’t have hurt me anyway. It was some kind of alien doohickey and the people you used it on are just fine. Zero ill effects. Relax.”

 

Daniel’s grip on Jack’s hand loosened and his eyelids drooped. “You’ll tell me all about it later?”

 

“Gonna take a nap now?” Jack asked gently. But Daniel didn’t answer; he was already asleep.

 

Jack released his hand from Daniel’s and watched the other man sleep for a minute. I wonder if you’ll remember more when you wake up? Jack straightened up resolutely and exited the infirmary. Duty called.

 

~~~~

 

General O’Neill was waiting at the foot of the ramp when the six units he had ordered to P2Y-712 returned. The leader of SG10 was senior officer. “James, what have you got?”

 

Colonel James held out his hand and took some papers from one of his teammates. “Schematics of the device that was implanted into Doctor Jackson, sir.”

 

“Good work,” Jack praised. “What did they tell you?”

 

“They said that there should be no lasting effects, now that the device has been removed.”

 

“You believe them?” Jack wanted to know.

 

“Oh, yeah,” the Colonel answered. “They were practically pissing themselves trying to give us what we wanted. The politician types insist that the military acted without any authority. Now, that I don’t believe for a minute.”

 

“Neither do I,” Jack said grimly. “Threat assessment?”

 

“They’re not interested in a fair fight,” James answered disdainfully. “I don’t anticipate any more trouble from them. It’s going to take them some time to rebuild their military anyway.”

 

“Well done, Colonel. Dismissed.” Jack looked up at the control room, and focused in on Walter’s face. “Lock ‘em out of the dialing computer, Sergeant.” He motioned an airman to his side. “Take these papers to Colonel Carter’s lab. If she’s not there, have her paged.” He stood for a moment gathering his thoughts and then headed for the infirmary to check up on Daniel.

 

~~~~

 

Daniel was actually sitting up in bed, sipping from a cup of fruit juice when Jack arrived. “Hey!” he said with delight when he saw Jack approaching.

 

Jack smiled at him broadly. “Hey yourself! All on your own?”

 

“Teal’c was here when I woke up. He left a little while ago.” Daniel looked much more alert than he had earlier. “Can you stay a while?”

 

“Yeah, little while.” Jack pulled the chair up and seated himself with a sigh. He surveyed his friend closely. Daniel was positively beaming at him. Huh. “Remember any of what happened?” he asked nonchalantly.

 

Daniel grew more serious. “No, nothing. Teal’c filled me in though.”

 

“He’s such a gossip,” Jack gibed.

 

“Alien invasion,” Daniel said with no trace of humor.

 

“Didn’t happen,” Jack soothed.

 

“Yeah, well, no thanks to me,” Daniel replied.

 

“And no fault of yours, either,” Jack pointed out.

 

Daniel shrugged. “Anyway, Teal’c couldn’t actually tell me how it ended.”

 

“Ended?” Jack asked. “Invasion thwarted.” He smirked.

 

“Yes, but how?” Daniel wanted to know. “I mean, the control room was blocked off, and I was shielded, too, right? Along with the iris control. Did you do something?”

 

“No,” Jack told him, “you did.”

 

“I did?” Daniel blinked at him in confusion. “What did I do?”

 

“You passed out.”

 

“I passed out.”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Just, passed out. For no apparent reason.”

 

Jack pursed his lips. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”

 

“Jack!” Daniel looked like he was contemplating an act of strangulation.

 

“I think you managed to seize back control somehow.”

 

“Really?” Daniel looked quite pleased at the idea.

 

“Really,” Jack assured him.

 

“Because?”

 

“Because what?”

 

“Why do you think I suddenly took control at that point? I mean, did I finally realize what I was doing? Did I know that I had to act right then to stop what was happening?”

 

Jack slid one hand behind his back. “I think you realized something that was important enough to you that you managed to take back control, yes.”

 

“Like that the Earth was about to be invaded?” Daniel was wide-eyed. 

 

“Could be,” Jack said noncommittally.

 

“Wow,” Daniel commented quietly. “I guess we just got lucky.”

 

Jack uncrossed his fingers behind his back, and smiled sweetly at Daniel. “Yeah. I know I’m feeling very lucky today,” he said sincerely. Daniel blinked uncertainly at his friend. Jack’s smile grew even broader, until Daniel couldn’t help but respond in kind.

 

~~~~

 

A few minutes later Jack was called away, leaving Daniel alone with his thoughts. He burrowed down into the bed, getting comfortable. He could feel a wave of sleepiness overtaking him. He gazed up at the ceiling dreamily, picturing Jack’s last smile. The memory filled him with warmth. Thank goodness he hadn’t done anything to harm Jack. His eyelids fluttered shut.

 

Jack meant the world to him.

 

His mind, on the brink of sleep, sensed that that thought was important. He hazily chased the idea in circles, trying to assign some significance to it.

 

Daniel rolled onto his side, sighed “Jack”, and slept.

on to Part Two

Comments

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love this one! Did you post it on Area 52 and not here? Is that why I know it?

*runs to read more* 'Cause I love the schmoop!

[sid]

That's right. I've had an LJ for about a year now, but there are still some older fics that I haven't gotten around to posting over here.

Yay schmoop!

[janedavitt.livejournal.com]

Have to go to bed so can't read now but... ::bookmarks like crazy for tomorrow::

::loves::

[sid]

:-)
:-)
:-)

[michare1a.livejournal.com]

Eee *scampers off to part 2* :-)

[sid]

Part Two, wherein Daniel is still clueless, but investigating. :-)